KXEN's Predictive Offers Helps Agents Get Inside Customers' Heads

KXEN's new Predictive Offers is unlike rule-based systems that are not only complicated to set up and maintain, but also unpredictable in delivering results, based as they often are on intuition or outdated analysis. In contrast, a predictive model-based next best activity solution learns by itself, says KXEN, analyzing all available information to create a mathematically optimal score.

KXEN has launched Predictive Offers, a real-time next best action tool for customer service and call center agents, on Salesforce.com's AppExchange.

The product's goal is to improve customer retention, boost upsell and cross-sell, and improve the overall customer experience by providing agents with the best recommendations for the customers they're speaking with in real time.

To the Cloud

This is the second predictive analytics app KXEN has launched on the Salesforce.com AppExchange -- as well as the second from the company's own cloud platform, Cloud Prediction, which it built to serve as a launching pad for its foray into the cloud.

"This is an area we see as having great potential -- predictive analytics delivered from the cloud," Andy Savitz, VP of worldwide marketing, told CRM Buyer.

Cloud Prediction can support any cloud vendor, Savitz said -- not just the Salesforce ecosystem.

KXEN decided to start with Salesforce AppExchange as its focus because of the breadth of the platform and because many of KXEN's employees have a history with Salesforce, Savitz said.

Also, Salesforce's deep push into the service cloud dovetails with KXEN's focus.

Make the Best Offer

Predictive Offers is a case in point, said Savitz.

Predictive Offers allows call center agents to intelligently make the right offer at the right time, based on the customer's eligibility for an offer and factors such as available inventory, Savitz explained.

The point is to monetize the client relationship, but the application serves another purpose as well, he continued. "If you look at where the industry is headed, personalization is everything. Customers expect agents to interact with them knowing all about their accounts and history."

For example, say a call center agent is taking an inbound call. As the call progresses, a recommendation may appear on the right side of the agent's screen. It would not be a random offer, Savitz said, but a highly personalized one, based on that particular client's history.

"This is the offer that individual is most likely to accept and most qualified to receive," he maintained.

More to Come

So far reception to the application has been good. Newly launched, it has just secured its first client, Savitz noted.

The first application it launched from its cloud platform was a lead-scoring product. Going forward, the company will continue to focus on the service space, Savitz said. "We see that area as the best opportunity to work with Salesforce right now."

KXEN is developing several other cloud-based applications, he noted -- for predictive churn, predictive retention and predictive case routing.

Erika Morphy has been writing about technology, finance and business issues for more than 20 years. She lives in Silver Spring, Md.